A Way Forward

At the entrance to the club, Zhou En stared in disbelief at the crowd blocking the school club.

Damn, what was going on?

Zhou En grew suspicious and stood not far away, unable to take another step.

But the others were not fools. Someone spotted Zhou En in the distance almost instantly.

"Zhou En is over there!" someone shouted. Everyone's eyes turned toward Zhou En, and then they charged at him like a pack of hungry wolves.

Zhou En's scalp instantly prickled. Once he saw who was coming, he realized they were a group of reporters.

"Student Zhou En, are you confident about competing for a spot as a regular team member?"

"Student Zhou En, may I ask how you managed to gain such strength in just three months? Did you use some kind of special training method?"

"Student Zhou En, do you think you can lead the school to first place?"

Questions came pouring in, leaving Zhou En completely overwhelmed. He was utterly confused.

"Make way, everyone, please make way." Just then, a familiar voice rang out. Zhou En looked up and saw that it was Su Lin.

Zhou En pushed through the crowd and came to Su Lin's side. In a low voice, he asked, "What exactly is going on?"

Su Lin also lowered his voice. "I'll tell you later. Come back to the club with me for now."

When Zhou En saw the beads of sweat on Su Lin's forehead, he understood that this was not the place to talk.

The two of them parted the crowd and quickly squeezed into the club.

"Anyone who wants to interview Zhou En, please wait until he represents the school in a match." As Su Lin spoke, he shut the club's doors.

"Does that mean Zhou En is definitely going to become a regular member of the club?" an unwilling reporter immediately asked sharply.

Su Lin had no intention of answering. After all, the best response was to say nothing at all.

But Zhou En, who had only just made his debut, lacked that kind of composure. After roughly understanding what the reporter meant, he patted his chest and promised, "Of course."

Su Lin's face darkened. The situation he least wanted to see had happened after all. He grabbed Zhou En and pulled him into the club.

With a bang, he slammed the club's doors shut.

"Student Zhou En! Student Zhou En!" the reporters shouted unwillingly.

But the club's doors were already closed. No matter how hoarse the reporters' voices became, no one answered them.

"How could you be so reckless?" Su Lin said resentfully the moment he shut the doors.

Zhou En was utterly baffled and retorted without the slightest politeness, "What exactly happened?"

Su Lin shook his head and sighed. "Zhou En, were you the one who beat up those people lying on the hill behind the snack street outside the school?"

Zhou En nodded.

Although Su Lin had already expected it, he still could not help sucking in a sharp breath after hearing Zhou En admit it himself.

He patted Zhou En on the shoulder and sighed. "I never expected you to improve so quickly."

Back then, Zhou En had been nothing more than a novice martial arts rookie who could only look up to him. Yet in the blink of an eye, three months later, he had become someone comparable to a regular team member.

"Chubby was the one who exposed this." Seeing how impatient Zhou En was to know the answer, Su Lin finally told him.

"Zhou En, I'm sorry. I originally wanted to find evidence for you, but I never expected something like this to happen."

Just then, Chubby, the person involved, walked over with a guilty look and said this to Zhou En.

"But with me backing you up, you don't have to worry."

Chubby then briefly told Zhou En about the livestream. Zhou En was caught between laughter and tears, but a trace of emotion also welled up in his heart.

At a time like this, the only person who would still think of him was his brother.

"By the way, were you really the one who beat those people up?" Chubby asked, still somewhat uncertain.

Zhou En nodded, admitting it.

Chubby was just as shocked. He circled around Zhou En, as if trying to find some clue on him.

"All right, we'll talk about this later." Su Lin waved his hand, interrupting Zhou En and Chubby's reunion.

"Zhou En, you need to understand that, by declaring that in front of the reporters, you've effectively slapped the Iron Blood Gang in the face in public." Su Lin spoke in a deep voice.

Zhou En was clearly a little nervous.

"Li Hui may not be an important figure in the Iron Blood Gang, but you knocked out all of his men and even declared in front of the reporters that you would defeat Li Hui."

"The Iron Blood Gang definitely won't let you off."

Hearing this, Zhou En grew flustered. He knew that whenever he acted impulsively, he could be stubborn and make mistakes, but he had never expected to cause such a huge problem.

Seeing Zhou En's panicked expression, Su Lin softened his tone. "Although you slapped the Iron Blood Gang in the face, they won't take a minor figure like you seriously."

"At most, they'll have Li Hui defeat you in the competition."

Zhou En felt slightly annoyed by that. What did he mean by "minor figure"?

But Zhou En still had to accept reality. If he failed to secure a spot as a regular team member, he would not be able to obtain his diploma.

In this era, not having a diploma was equivalent to being sentenced to death.

Zhou En clenched his fists.

"Su Lin, I'd also like to ask your advice. Li Hui has already seen my Sun Character Consecutive Fist, so he must have figured out how to counter it."

"What should I change to make up for this weakness?"

Su Lin gave a bitter laugh.

"Brother, you're giving me too much credit. If it were easy to alter the wisdom left behind by our predecessors, I'd already be famous."

Zhou En's disappointment was plain to see.

Chubby patted Zhou En on the shoulder and comforted him. "Zhou En, don't worry. There'll always be a way."

Of course, that was only something to listen to.

The three of them racked their brains, but none of them could come up with a good solution.

The days passed one after another, and the selection of regular team members drew closer and closer.

The atmosphere in the club grew increasingly tense.

Everyone knew that after this selection, the five regular team members would represent the school in the provincial combat tournament.

It was the best opportunity to bring honor to the school—and the best opportunity to make a name for themselves.

Therefore, everyone was rushing to complete their final training, hoping to become one of the regular team members.

At this time, Zhou En was the most weighed down of all. To this day, he still had not thought of a way to make up for the flaw in the Sun Character Consecutive Fist.

During this period, Zhou En also consulted a great deal of martial arts material. But that only made him more despairing. The more deeply he understood, the more he realized how difficult it would be to make up for the weakness of the Sun Character Consecutive Fist in such a short time.

"Zhou En, let's go. Go back and get some rest early tonight. The selection competition for regular team members is tomorrow." Chubby spoke to Zhou En, who was striking a punching bag nearby.

"No, I'm not leaving. If I can't think of a solution today, I'm not leaving." Zhou En spoke stubbornly.

"Zhou En, you absolutely can't overtrain today. Otherwise, how will you face tomorrow's competition?" Chubby scolded him.